State Duma To Participate In PACE Sessions On January 20-26

A delegation of the Russian State Duma will participate in the fall session of PACE in Strasbourg, scheduled for January 20-26. In addition, Russian parliamentarians will participate in an advisory seminar within a framework of activities of the State Duma-PACE working group on January 21-22. Recommendations about ways of settling the political conflict in Chechnya are supposed to be worked out then, a source in the State Duma's Foreign Committee reported to RosBusinessConsulting. The Russian delegation will consist of Chief of the State Duma's Foreign Committee Dmitry Rogozin, Chief of the Defense Committee Andrey Nikolayev, Deputy Speaker of the parliament's lower house Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Communist leader Gennady Seleznyov, leader of the Yedinstvo (Unity) faction Vladimir Pekhtin, Head of the Agroindustrial deputy group Nikolay Kharitonov and other deputies. Among the problems that will be discussed at PACE sessions are aviation safety problems, Bosnia and Herzegovina's request for membership in PACE, the situation in Chechnya, problems of political prisoners in Azerbaijan and several other questions. Matters concerning terrorism and human rights may be discussed as well.